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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – The North Texas mom who pled guilty to gluing her toddler daughter’s hands to a wall, kicking her in the stomach and beating her over “potty training” issues has been sentenced to 99 years in prison.

It was up to State District Judge Larry Mitchell to decide how long Elizabeth Escalona would spend behind bars. For days the judge heard from medical experts, police, family members and the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office showed dozens of pictures of little Jocelynn Cedillo. The photos, taken at the hospital, showed bruises from the child’s head down to her feet. The injuries included hair torn from her scalp, bruising on her forehead, nose and cheek and what appeared to be bite marks on her body.

In handing down the stiff sentence, Mitchell told Escalona that in spite of the ‘heartbreaking’ and ‘compelling’ evidence presented on both sides, “to me, it comes down to a single, salient fact: you savagely beat your child to the edge of death… for this you must be punished." >>>

Escalona pled guilty to first-degree Injury to a Child back in July.

When asked about gluing the little girl’s hands to a wall Escalona offered no explanation. “I don’t really recall what happened afterwards,” she said. “Everything happened so fast.”

Previous testimony from Dallas doctors detailed how in addition to having pieces of skin torn from her hands from the wall gluing, Escalona’s daughter’s eyes had also been glued shut. Though severely beaten and even falling into a coma for two days, Jocelynn Cedillo miraculously recovered from her injuries. >>>

Testimony during the week-long sentencing hearing often focused on Escalona’s hard life– one that the defense attorney called a ‘train wreck’ in closing arguments.

According to court testimony, Escalona was repeatedly molested by her father, was abusing drugs before she was a teenager, had her first child at 14 and couldn’t seem to stay away from men who beat her. But, it appeared that Escalona’s punishment would not be mitigated by that troubled past. >>>

Prosecutors had offered a 45-year-sentence as part of a plea deal. But, during closing arguments Asst. District Attorney Eren Price asked the judge for a life sentence– saying Escalona refuses to accept responsibility for the abuse that left her child in a coma. Price called the 99-year-sentence “absolutely the right thing to do,” saying Escalona’s five children will be better off without her.
“They have a chance for the rest of their lives, not to look over their shoulder,” said Price. “Because of what Judge Mitchell did, they have a chance to live a productive and happy life.”

Escalona showed no reaction to the verdict and was led away in handcuffs. >>>

According to Price, Escalona’s 99 year prison sentence means she will spend a minimum of 30 years behind bars before becoming eligible for parole.

Have to ask Noonie about this, but is it safe having the children with the grandmother? This convicted abuser had to learn her "strategies" from somewhere. I'd almost like to see those kids with a relative further away from the mother's family.

Have to ask Noonie about this, but is it safe having the children with the grandmother? This convicted abuser had to learn her "strategies" from somewhere. I'd almost like to see those kids with a relative further away from the mother's family.

Good people sometimes raise kids who turn out to be drug addicts and lunatics. We'd look at the overall picture-did the mom's siblings turn out okay? Do the grandparents have a relationship with their grandchildren and what is that relationship like? Were the grandparents aware of the abuse that was occurring and did they try to stop it? We've had a central registry for all abuse cases since the 70s, so we can check out own database on the grandparents and see if they had a record with us. We do criminal record checks on all relatives before placing kids in their care (although the police sometimes make initial custody decisions before we are involved, as they are sometimes the first agency to respond, especially in sever abuse cases).

What Jersey said about his state wasting money to reunite children with abusive parents is sad. Michigan reformed our laws in the 90s, but when I was hired in the late 80s, we were still doing that. Now, any abuse that causes life-threatening injury or the death of a child is automatic grounds to terminate parental rights. If the court terminates rights on one child, the prior termination is grounds to terminate the rights of any future children born to or fathered by that parent. These are not cases of minor bruises, or slight marks from hands or belts, but broken bones, intentional burns, sexual abuse, head injuries, choking, and anything that severely threatens the life or health of a child.

Some states haven't made those reforms yet. My brother works in Ohio in a related field and although they have a better overall computer system than we have (we are getting it in 2013), they don't have a central registry in their state to do a statewide check of people's CPS records. That makes it really easy for someone who beat their kids in one county to get a job in a daycare center 3 counties over.